New York regulations named after a 12-year-old victim of sepsis increased the chance of survival from the potentially deadly condition, a study out Sunday shows.

"Rory's Regulations," named for the late Rory Staunton of New York City, requires hospitals to quickly perform a checklist of safety measures when people show up at hospitals with sepsis. A report in the New England Journal of Medicine Sunday found the faster hospitals completed the checklist of care and administered antibiotics, the lower the risk of death in hospitals from sepsis. With each additional hour it took, the risk of death increased 4%.

Sepsis, which occurs when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs, is the biggest killer of hospital patients. More than 1.5 million cases of sepsis occur in the U.S. annually and more than 20% of people who contract sepsis die from it.

Rory Staunton died five days after falling and getting a cut on his arm in his school gym.

"This is an amazing policy that happened," says University of Pittsburgh medical school assistant professor and physician Chris Seymour, lead author on the study.

“Minutes matter, and it is critical to perform the correct tests and get the patient antibiotics as fast as possible," said co-author Mitchell Levy, a physician and professor at Brown University's medical school.

Ciaran Staunton, father of Rory Staunton who died of sepsis, is shown with his wife Orlaith, in red jacket. Also shown are Martine Diamond, far right, and Joe Pulaski, both of whom were saved by ÒRoryÕs Regulations,Ó the sepsis-prevention hospital checklist that is now required in New York State.
Courtesy Ciaran Staunton

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Staunton has met a lot of people period. A jovial Irish immigrant who wears his hurt in his eyes, Staunton was well-connected with politicians including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer through his ownership of the Irish bars O'Neill's.

Two weeks before Rory died on April 1, 2012, he was at the White House with his father for a St. Patrick's Day party. Since then, Staunton notes, about 2 million people have died from sepsis. About 1,400 people attended Rory's funeral.

Physician Atul Gawande, the best-selling author of books including The Checklist Manifesto, was not involved in the new study but said, "being able to make a dent" in the number of sepsis death is "impressive and important."

"It's real evidence that time matters," he added.

The new study comes a month after New York State reported the chance of adults dying from sepsis decreased by more than 20% in the state due to the regulations. There was no effect shown for children, but the report said there were too few treated to develop meaningful results.

Physician Chris Seymour is an assistant professor of critical care and emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.(Photo: University of Pittsburgh)

Gawande, who led the development of the World Health Organization's Surgical Safety Checklist, says he's "generally skeptical" that a regulation alone is going to be effective. He cites his own experience with the checklist in Canada, where it was mandated but didn't lead to a reduction in deaths. In South Carolina, however, hospitals voluntarily implemented the checklist and there was a 22% reduction in post-surgery deaths.

What accompanies a regulation, such as required electronic reporting, is crucial, said Gawande.

Even if the policy isn't the sole force behind the improvements, Seymour notes, "it was the first in the country," creates awareness of the importance for hospitals to act quickly when dealing with sepsis.

The New York regulations require hospitals to follow protocols for the early identification and treatment of sepsis and submit data on compliance and outcomes. Hospitals can tailor how they implement the protocols, but have to include a blood culture to test for infection, measurement of blood lactate (a sign of tissue stress) and administer antibiotics within three hours of diagnosis.

Since October 2015, nearly all private hospitals are required to track nearly 50 aspects of their care for sepsis patients and report them to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Hospitals that perform well will receive financial incentives. The requirement was controversial due to the burden it places on hospitals and the difficulty in identifying sepsis patients, says Seymour.

But the additional evidence in the new study should bolster support for it, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding health regulations in the new administration.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rautner signed a law last August that requires hospitals in that state to adopt protocols for the early detection and treatment of sepsis and septic shock in adults and children. Called "Gabby's Law," it honored Gabby Galbo, 5, who passed away in 2012 due to untreated sepsis.

Pennsylvania is seriously considering similar requirements to New York's and several other states have expressed interest, says Seymour.

Marcus Friedrich, a doctor and medical director of the New York State health department's office of quality and patient safety, says he hopes the study and his department's efforts will prompt other states to "see that this is a model for combating and improving sepsis-related outcomes and reducing mortality rates.”

Rory Staunton, front, is shown with his mother, Orlaith, sister Kathleen and father Ciaran. Rory died of sepsis when he was 12 in 2012.(Photo: Family photo)

University of Pittsburgh's Tina Batra Hershey and physician Jeremy M. Kahn studied the potential of additional states adopting sepsis mandates in light of Seymour’s study and the regulations.

In an editorial accompanying the study, the pair noted, "sepsis is a public health crisis worthy of a policy response." But they added that such policies should give hospitals the flexibility so they can evolve with the science of sepsis care.

"The bottom line is there are thousands of people in New York who would be dead but for Rory's Regulations, " says Staunton. "Many of them are preventable deaths. It's not good enough anymore to say: We didn’t think of sepsis. We didn’t know the signs."